I chose a dark alley along the corridor as my photo were printed over-exposed so I had to find a way to ensure that I could still capture the same dark mood present in the original photos.

 

 

I decided to place the photo with the frames in the middle as I felt that the theme of family was strongest in there so it should stand alone on its own in the centre of the composition. The other photos served as elements that added to the narrative hence they are placed at top and bottom. The large space in between serves to emphasise the large sense of space within the photos.

 

Welcome “Home”

In my photo series, I invite viewers to view into my home through my eyes. While I like my home a lot, I recently get a strangely unfamiliar feeling when I am inside. This happened ever since my dad became absent from my family so its just my mother, my brother and I left in our house. While I do like the three of us together and it feels really warm being together, I still feel like something is not right, like a certain order has been disrupted. I realised I find it hard to let go of this feeling due to certain signs in my house and the way I look at objects in my house. There lies a certain strangeness in the most normal of objects in my house as this incident has forced me to look even more inwards and become more sensitive to objects in my house. These objects seem to have a presence of its own at times. Welcome “Home”~

I took this by tilting the camera diagonally. I like how even though the photo feels really warm, it still feels a bit strange, as though something is not right. As I selected my photos for this photo essay series, I tried to capture those that presented this particular aesthetic. In doing so, many of my photos were deliberately under exposed to achieve that dark, gloomy and melancholic look. Unfortunately, this was not reflected in the printed photos as they were printed much brighter sadly. In this particular photo, I start the narrative with the theme of family and self within the house as represented by the picture frames. The object chosen here is not unusual as it is normal to find photos of yourself and your family in your house. However, by tilting it diagonally, it foreshadows that some things are not as they seem.

Cut off connection. I deliberately cropped out objects midway in my photos as I thought it was more interesting that way and gave the feeling of something missing, making the viewers feel something was off.

I noticed that there was areas with different lighting in my house. They were in two places but right beside each other and this particular angle captured that aspect. One is slightly cooler while the other is much warmer. I felt this represented the idea of two sides to a home very well.

This was captured in my parent(s)’s room. I felt particularly attached these inanimate objects that carried some form of personal value that I saw on a regular basis. I like how the presence of the strong pink textured towel disrupts the stillness created by the flat plain walls and cupboards. The shadow of the arm chair suggest the presence of someone but does not reveal anyone. These elements when combined together give the feeling of someone there but not really there. Aside from the visual aspects, the idea of only one towel in my parent(s) room adds to the narrative of an absent father that I seek to communicate.

 

Similarly, the idea of just one pair of bedroom slippers adds on to the narrative

There are only photos of my mother in the room.

I experimented with a few shots when trying to capture the dining table and chair. I took this from an extreme angle to emphasise the distance between the viewer and the chair. This gives the feeling of distance despite it being the dining area where people usually gather together. Thus, this adds to the idea of something familiar yet slightly off.

I spend a lot of time alone at home. During these moments, I start to become very aware and sensitive to my surroundings. Inanimate objects seem to turn alive and have a presence of its own like this towel here.

Similarly, as I become my sensitive to my surroundings, I start to notice how hollow some places feel. This toilet bowl here while not the most pleasant thing to present, stands out to me as a deep dark hole. I face the toilet bowl almost everyday so I constantly feel the existence of a hole in the house…a certain emptiness.

Lastly, I ended off with this photo of a curtain being slightly lifted off just to reveal a slight amount of light. This represents how I hope for this strange feeling I have about my house to disappear and that this is all just temporary so the “curtain” will rise someday. Thus, leading me back into the light. As corny as it sounds, this is how I really feel.